Piraeus Bank said it will launch its fourth e-auction for foreclosed properties for the sale of 49 properties in Athens, Thessaloniki and seaside areas on March 20 and 21. The starting prices range from 9,000 euros to 760,000 million euros. Piraeus said it will offer favorable funding terms to potential buyers who are given the buy it now option as well.

The sale will take place via the bank’s website properties4sale. Recall that the bank has raised so far over 13.4 million euros via the sale of 84 properties during the previous three e-auctions.

PPC’s market share in the retail segment dropped in January but still remains way above the end-2017 MoU target of 75%. PPC’s share was 84.9% versus 85.4% in December, according to data provided by LAGIE, the electricity market operator.

Hellenic Petroleum is set to announce record earnings for 2017, with “clean” EBITDA shaping above 800 million euros, chairman Efstathios Tsotsoros said. The interims are due for release on Thursday, February 23, after market hours.

In an interview with the Athens-Macedonian news agency, Tsotsoros said the refiner’s 2018-22 business plan calls for high profitability even in an adverse refining margin environment.

Tsotsoros added that the refiner would approve the sale of its 35% stake in DESFA only if the offer price exceeds 400 million euros.

OTE said that it received its shareholder approval for a share buyback of up to 10% of the paid-up share capital at a price range between 1 euros and 30 euros.

The buyback of some 49 million shares will run the next two years and it is expected to cost up to 90 million euros.

“This approval of share buyback implements part of the shareholders remuneration policy as announced on 19/01/2018. The shares will be acquired in order to be cancelled following a shareholders' general meeting resolution,” OTE said in a bourse filing.

"The final amount and the number of shares that will eventually be acquired will depend both on the share price and trading volumes and on the progress of cash flows over the year," OTE added.

Gaming systems operator Intralot announced the renewal of the current contract with the Wyoming Lottery Corporation, in US for the five-year period from August 25, 2019 to Aug 25, 2016. No financial details were disclosed.

This is the first out of the three 5-year extension options, as envisaged by the contract, Intralot said.

Coca-Cola HBC reported a strong set of full-year interims, with comparable profits rising 28% to 449.7 million euros. On a reported basis, profits grew 24% y-o-y to 426.0 million euros. The bottler plans to distribute a 0.54 euros dividend per share, a 23% increase on the 2016 dividend.

“Volume grew 2.2% in the year, an acceleration from the marginal expansion of 0.1% in the prior year. We saw a good performance from both Sparkling (including Energy) and Stills, which grew 2.6% and 1.5%, respectively,” CCHBC said.

Volume was up 1.1% in the established segment, up 2.8% in the developing segment and up 2.7% in the emerging segment.

“All three segments delivered faster volume growth in the second half of 2017 compared to the first half, and better volume growth in 2017 compared to 2016. Strong volume delivery from our medium-sized markets in both the developing and emerging segments has been an important component of overall volume growth,” the bottler said.

Free cash flow stood at 425.9 million euros, down 1.2% y-o-y due to 46 million euros increase in investments in revenue-generating assets.

Looking ahead, the bottler expects improved economic conditions in all markets to continue.

“Overall, we expect volume to continue to grow in all three segments, with the Emerging markets segment accelerating, as Russia and Nigeria return to volume growth,” it said.

OPAP said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Tora Wallet has received a license as an electronic money institution by the Bank of Greece.

The first service to be offered by Tora Wallet in the market concerns the payment of all kinds of bills. Moving forward, the company will provide services for remittances inside Greece and abroad, as well as the possibility to open a payments account, combined with a debit card, OPAP said.

Tora Wallet's services will become available to the broader public gradually, though OPAP agencies, which span across Greece.

National Bank said Exin Financial Services has until March 28 to conclude or not the sale of its insurance arm Ethniki Insurance.

In a terse filing to the stock market, NBG said “National Bank of Greece informs investors that the contractual obligations from the Share Sale and Purchase Agreement with Exin Financial Services Holdings BV for the sale of 75% of Ethniki Hellenic General Insurance Company S.A expire on March 28 2018.”

It also added that “according to information provided by Exin, the process of completing the official application to the Bank of Greece is ongoing. Similarly the finalization of the application to the Hellenic Competition Commission is in progress.”

Press reports have indicated that the sale of Ethniki Insurance to the consortium Calamos-Exin is on the verge of collapse after Calamos’ announcements earlier in the week that it has launched legal proceedings against Exin seeking over $41 million owed from a series of loan agreements.

Recall, NBG had agreed last June to sell a majority stake in Ethiniki Insurance to the Calamos-Exin consortium for a total consideration of 718 million euros.

The sale of National Bank’s Ethniki Insurance to the consortium Calamos-Exin is seen on the verge of collapse after Calamos’ announcement on Wednesday that it has launched legal proceedings against Exin seeking over $41 million owed from a series of loan agreements.

National Bank said in a stock filing that “it became aware, through media reports, of legal proceedings against Exin by Calamos Family Partners.NBG signed a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement with Exin on June 28th 2017. The completion of the Transaction is subject to regulatory approvals from the Bank of Greece and the Hellenic Competition Commission," “NBG will notify investors if it becomes aware of developments that affect the transaction,” it added.

Recall, NBG agreed last June to sell a 75% stake in Ethiniki Insurance to the Calamos-Exin consortium for a total consideration of 718 million euros.

PPC rejected press reports which claimed that its consulting firm McKinsey has concluded that the utility needs to save at least 500 million euros within 2018 in order to avoid a liquidity crisis ahead of the 2019 debt hump.

“The reference for a need for savings of 500 million euros in 2018 is totally inaccurate,” PPC said in a bourse filing.

“It is noted that in 2018, the Company has already received 360 million euros for part of the expenses for the provision of Public Service Obligations in previous years, a development which provided additional liquidity which will be used for the partial redemption of 150 million euros out of the 500 million euros Senior Notes, within the framework of proactively managing 2019 debt maturities,” it noted.

PPC said that the business plan for the period 2018 – 2022 “will, inter alia, include actions for cost reduction, improvement of collection, investments in RES and expansion in new products and markets aiming at the improvement of the operational profitability, cash flows and financial ratios of the Company, including the Net Debt / EBITDA ratio.”

Greece’s Operator of Electricity Market, known as LAGIE, reportedly completed on Wednesday the first NOME auction for 2018, which involved 400 MWH/h for one year of PPC’s lignite and hydro generation.

Press reports said that actual bids averaged 41.45 euros/MWh sharply above the starting price of 32.05 euros/MWh set by the energy regulator, RAE, but lower than the average price of 45.02 euros/MWh in the last NOME auction in October.

PPC is scheduled to auction equivalent amounts of energy in April and June, while the October’s auction will involve 511 MWh/h.

Consulting firm McKinsey, which has been hired as an advisor to PPC’s managemet over the utility’s new business plan, has reportedly warned that PPC would face a liquidity crisis ahead of the 2019 debt hump unless it finds ways to save at least 500 million euros in 2018.

Press reports said that McKinsey has proposed either an increase in revenues through stricter collection of unpaid bills or cost savings including the extension of voluntary retirement program to 250 employees from 110 currently.

Mc Kinsey has reportedly warned that the utility’s EBITDA/Net Debt ratio is unsustainable and PPC could face a material liquidity crisis as the utility has to redeem debt maturities of around 2 billion euros in 2019.

Mytilineos said that it has reached a final settlement with the Serbian government for the $40 million compensation that derived from the issued award by the International Tribunal on a local mining case.

The compensation will be paid in four quarterly instalments with the last being due in December 2018.

"In this way, the two parties have finally solved a 15-year issue and created all the prerequisites for MYTILINEOS investments to return shortly to the Serbian market," Mytilineos said in a bourse filing.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it has participated in Alpha Bank’s covered bond with an investment of 40 million euros in the total offering of 500 million euros.

Recall, that Alpha’s bond was priced at 2.75% and carried a coupon of 2.50%.

“Alpha’s five-year issuance adds to the tenor of the recent public covered bond issuances in Greece, contributing to the development of the benchmark pricing curve. This landmark transaction will pave the way for Alpha Bank to re-establish a recurring presence on the international markets,” EBRD said in a statement.

The affirmation follows PPC's announcement on Jan. 31,that it intends to exercise a call option and redeem €150 million of its 500 million euros senior unsecured notes due 2019 in cash, at 101.375% of the notes' nominal value.

“We understand the early partial repayment of the notes will take place in the second half of February 2018,” S&P said.

The negative outlook reflects the possibility of a distressed exchange in the coming few months, given that PPC needs to address a large debt maturity wall, as well as potential liquidity shortages if the company is unable to rollover its maturities in the coming six months, S&P noted.